Dead of Night
by wikelia
Summary: Modern AU. Includes magic. Hiccup Haddock never wanted to move to Berk and start a completely new life. With a new mom, weird kids, and an embarrassing crush on a blonde girl, things aren't going his way. And worst of all, Berk is hiding a secret. In the dead of night, when no one is awake, something...is out there.
1. Chapter 1

"Do _not_ go in there, please."

The man was quite tall. He had a goatee that was well kept and groomed, unlike Stoick Haddock's beard, in which birds had probably laid their nests in long ago. His hands were folded behind his back, and he peered down at the seventeen year old boy in front of him with a professional smile, in a way that sent shivers down the boy's back.

"I'm sorry," Hiccup replied, not moving his hand from the doorknob, "but who are you, and why are you in my house?"

He let out a chuckle, and the teen's eyes narrowed. If he was a thief, he would be scampering by now, so what made him think he had the upper hand here? This _was_ the Haddock household now, so who did this man think he was, telling him not to go in a room?

"My name is Viggo Grimborn." He extended a hand. "Mayor of the town. And _you're_ Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third."

Hiccup did not shake his hand, feeling a dark blush spread across his cheeks as it always did whenever someone used or heard his name for the first time. Last time he checked, though, mayors were not exactly authorized to waltz into houses without a good reason.

"How do you know my name?" he challenged, his grip on the doorknob tightening. "Why can't I go in here?" He turned the doorknob and opened it a millimeter.

Mr. Grimborn's face darkened. From behind him, shadows erupted, and the man took out a knife from his sleeve. "I told you not to open the door, Hiccup." He walked forward, raising the knife, and lunging it straight into the boy's heart before he could call for help. Blood pooled, and Hiccup felt his vision blur as pain stung his entire body, and Viggo leered over him as he fell on the floor.

"You know, before you die, I'll _show_ you what's behind the door." He gripped the doorknob and pushed it open every so gently, not making a sound. There was a screech, a crash, and then -

And then Hiccup woke up.

"Dammit!"

Ignoring the cold sweat on his forehead, he sat up. Not that dreams were exactly factual, but he had wanted to see what was behind the door, or what his subconscious thought was there. He placed a hand on his chest. It felt weird, because he had never been stabbed in his life, but in the dream, it had been so...vivid. He could almost feel the pain even now. And Mr. Grimborn's maniacal face.

Well, it had happened. Only he hadn't been stabbed. Stoick Haddock had come in and interrupted Hiccup's questioning, and then his dad had chewed him out for ten minutes after the mayor left. Apparently, this mansion wasn't just their home, but something of great importance to all the people living in this ragtag town. Hiccup sighed, that was harsh. It seemed ragtag to _him_ , the way the mayor spoke yesterday made it sound like this was the City of Gold. And this house was like the last artifact from it, dating back a billion years.

That room was off limits. As Hiccup sat up and looked out the window, the now rising sun was bright and nice, not reflecting the dread he felt at all. He could not enter the room, his dad said, and the mayor was free to go in and leave at his own will. This was a traditional thing, couldn't Hiccup at least try to fit in instead of being such a sore disappointment for once? Okay, that wasn't what his dad had said, but he could read between the lines.

Viggo Grimborn just...didn't have the right aura about him. He practically reeked of wrongdoing. But of course, he was the mayor for a reason, and Hiccup wanted to find out why. He wanted to find out a whole lot about Berk, and then leave, because it would probably be all dark and twisted.

Or he could just stop reading the Sherlock Holmes series.

Slowly, he changed into his school uniform. _Uniform._ Why did uniforms exist, and why did this school require them? With uniforms, people couldn't think outside the box, they were just stuck with the code, with what people told them. Hiccup didn't really like the idea, but then to add on, the uniform made him look awfully...dapper. It consisted of a plaid shirt, or a red jumper with the school crest on it if it was winter, and dark pants. And a tie, which was probably what he disliked the most. It made him look professional, and he really wasn't. Everything had to be good and straight, nothing could be wrinkled, so he had spent last night ironing his clothes instead of exploring. Not that he _could_ explore much, the door he had wanted to open was one of many that was off limits. Any room that he could not enter had been labelled now, except for the one Mr. Grimborn had kept him from going into.

How could his dad allow this? What if they had a bomb in one of those rooms, wasn't that something that they'd want to know about? But no, there was no persuading Stoick Haddock. There never was.

"Son!" boomed his dad from the door. Hiccup winced. The man came to sit down on the bed, and it creaked slightly under his weight. He clapped him awkwardly on the back. "How are you...feeling? Excited."

"I'm skipping with joy, dad," he responded tiredly and with the most sarcasm he could muster. As per usual, Stoick did not pick up on it.

"Ah, good man! Now, just…" He shuffled his feet. "Say goodbye to your mom and off to school you go." He took a deep breath. "And, er, have fun...and stuff."

Have fun...and stuff. What brilliant advice. His dad should have been a motivational speaker. He trudged downstairs, throwing a meaningful glance to the door near his room, which now had a sign like the rest of them. _Do not enter._ He shook his head. A Do Not Enter sign in his own house. It was completely ridiculous, and he _was_ going to enter one of those rooms, one way or another. Maybe tonight. He would have done it last night, but he was too tired, and frankly, a bit creeped out by the encounter with Viggo Grimborn. He _was_ scary.

Downstairs, the new Mrs. Haddock held a lunch bag in hand. She offered it to him with a shy smile. "Hiccup? I - I got your lunch, and, I hope you don't mind, I just -"

"It's fine, Kara." He waved his hand and saw her smile falter a little but she handed him the brown bag and then hastily excused herself to go upstairs. Hiccup shook his head. She wasn't bad or anything, he just didn't see a reason to call her _mom._ She wasn't his mom, she was just Kara, his dad's girlfriend - and now wife. Even though he had never exactly met his mother, the teen couldn't help but feel as though Kara was not her and she never would be.

* * *

It certainly wasn't Hogwarts. Or that school from High School Musical. This school looked...depressing. It had a certain magic to it, he supposed, but maybe if Hogwarts had been run by Voldemort, that would be more like it. The Berk crest stood proudly above the gates. It was a dragon, with a sword through it's heart. That poor, defenseless dragon.

He was too busy staring at it in disgust to notice that he was going to walk straight in to someone, and only when he heard the, "Hey!" did he realize. In front of him was a girl with golden blonde hair, bangs that covered a good quarter of her face, and deep blue eyes.

She was very pretty.

The girl narrowed her eyes at him. "Can you watch where you're going?"

"Sorry," he offered honestly, looking down at his shoes, which were suddenly very interesting. The school code called for them to be black, and shined to perfection.

"I know _you_ ," she claimed, putting her hands on her hips, "you're that new kid. The one who bought the Berk Manor."

The boy next to her gasped. Hiccup looked back up to study him; he had short blonde hair and was quite large compared to both him and the girl. "You're Stoick Haddock's son?"

"Yeah," he mumbled, fingering the strap of his bag. The way they were looking at him wasn't very pleasant.

The girl pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't know whether to thank you or punch you."

"Punch me?"

"Our teacher was really harsh on us this month," the boy explained, "because of your family moving in. But we got the last week off since they were preparing for your arrival." He offered a hand. "I'm Fishlegs Ingerman."

He sighed. "I'm Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third," he recited, repeating the name that was its middle part.

They both looked at the girl, who crossed her arms. "Astrid. Astrid Hofferson."

They turned away from him and walked towards the school. The Haddock looked up at the dragon crest again and winced.

"You coming?" Fishlegs called. Next to him, Astrid glared at Hiccup impatiently. He stammered an excuse and followed, very sure that her glare was capable of killing.

And so began his first day at Hairy Hooligans High School, in the small town of Berk.


	2. Chapter 2

Slowly, very slowly, the class filed in. There were wooden desks, and Astrid and Fishlegs were both sitting in the back, so Hiccup went along with them. He dropped his bag next to the desk and sank down. He could have swore he heard the chair creak. The school looked pretty rich from the outside. Why was it in such bad condition?

A large man walked into the room. Not as big as his dad, but big enough to easily throw him across the room. He wore a sneer and walked right up to him. He heard Astrid's sharp intake of breath.

"Mr. Haddock, I presume? It is...so nice to finally meet you. My name is Mr. Grimborn."

"Like the mayor?" Hiccup blurted, forgetting manners for a second. Well, the man _did_ look scary, so maybe it was wise not to be polite with him. Or maybe it was stupid.

He smiled, a smile that sent shivers down the boy's spine. "I'm his brother."

While there wasn't that much...facely resemblance, both of them had a creepy vibe going for them, so he believed Mr. Grimborn right away. The man wished him good luck in school and then walked to the front. Right then, a girl came running into the room frantically.

Mr. Grimborn looked up. "Ah, there you are. I thought you were going to be late."

"Never, sir." She sat down in the very front, where a chair seemed to be reserved for her.

Astrid and Fishlegs were whispering next to him as the first class, History, began with a recap of the previous week's lessons. Mr. Grimborn asked a question. "Now, why was the trip to America a failure the first time Norbert the Nutjob went there?"

Norbert the Nutjob? With a name like that, America should should consider itself lucky, really. Many students' hands went into the air, including the two blondes next to him, but the teacher picked on the girl who had come in last.

"Heather."

"There was a huge storm, sir," she recited, as though it had been drilled in her brain, "but we believe that it was some kind of monster that actually did the damage. Perhaps the Lochness Monster. Or what about..."

Hiccup raised his hand as she went on, actually sounding like a robot. The man ignored him, and then he asked another question, and another. And each one, the girl - Heather - answered. Mr. Grimborn did not pick on anyone else. Hiccup turned to Fishlegs in confusion and the boy winced, signalling that he would explain later.

The only thing he learned in that class was that Heather was the only one who actually got to learn the history of Berk.

* * *

Lunch was outside in the courtyard. Neither Fishlegs nor Astrid had actually asked him to join them, but he tagged along with them anyway, looking around at it all.

"Say, Fishlegs," he began, walking in step with them; Astrid was reading something, "why does Mr. Grimborn only pick on that Heather girl? The other teachers don't do that."

"It's very hard to say exactly why. All we know is that Heather's older brother, Dagur, helps the Grimborn brothers with something. They've been seen talking a lot, especially since the news of your arrival. So I guess they favor her."

Hiccup shrugged. "I suppose it doesn't matter. History is usually the least important subject anyway."

"History is the _most_ important subject."

That was Astrid. She snapped her book shut and gave him a look. "I don't suppose you would know that, being new and all, but many people would be offended if they heard you suggest that Berkian history is not important." She turned to Fishlegs and huffed. "Aren't you going to ask him?"

"I thought you were!" Fishlegs squeaked back, looking at Hiccup nervously. Said boy adjusted the straps on his bag, burning with curiosity now.

"We agreed -"

"Astrid, that is not -"

"Don't play that game with -"

"I'm not playing anythi-"

"Hey, babe."

That was neither of the two blondes. Instead, it was a stocky boy with black hair. He was shorter than Astrid, and yet he had called her babe, so that must mean they were dating. Hiccup's heart sank, but who was he kidding? He never had a shot with her anyway.

"Don't call me babe. Snotlout."

Oh. Well, that made things a bit better. He saw the crestfallen expression on Snotlout's - Snotlout's? - face but it immediately turned to a smirk when the boy's eyes fell on him. Next to him were two kids - twins. A boy and a girl who wore identical grins. The male spoke up. "Is this the new kid?"

"Don't even think about pranking him," Astrid said sharply. He was surprised, to say the least. Why was Astrid sticking up for him like that? She barely knew him. Snotlout opened and closed his mouth a few time before huffing.

"Fine. We won't."

"Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston, at your service," the girl quipped, holding out her hand expectantly. Hiccup shook it and then she squeezed it. "Whoa. Feel that grip, Tuff."

"Move. Let me see." The boy shoved his sister aside and clutched Hiccup's hand as though his life depended on it. "You're right. He could choke us to death if he wanted to." He pulled back, gasping and pointing. "Murderer!"

"Uh…"

"Oh, for Thor's sake." Astrid rolled her eyes. _Thor?_ These kids were getting weirder by the second. He remembered his old high school. Well, there he had been a nobody. Surely, this would be better?

Fishlegs interrupted before the twins could say anymore. "Anyway, there was something Astrid, I mean, _both of us_ ," he amended, seeing the girl glare at him, "something we both wanted to ask you. Is it possible you could take us to your house?"

"Take you...to my house?" he repeated, confused. Could it be possible that they actually wanted to be friends with him? Maybe they could -

"To look around! Berk Manor was off limits before," Fishlegs explained excitedly, his eyes lighting up.

Oh. Of course. They weren't interested in _him_ , they were interested in the _house._ It was a letdown, yes, but maybe he could make the most of it. When people spent time together, they usually bonded anyway. And that was a very naive thought, but it was a start.'

Ignoring the biting feeling in his chest that told im very clearly that they would never want to be friends with him, Hiccup responded with a weak smile. "Yeah. Sure."

"Thanks," he heard Astrid say quietly; he almost missed it. She looked as though she was about to say something else, but then Tuffnut interrupted.

"You guys are going to Berk Manor? I wanna come too!"

"Me too!" Ruffnut and Snotlout both exclaimed at the same time, before everyone falling into a quarrel, in which many threats were passed around. (He also heard Astrid call Snotlout "son of a half troll", whatever _that_ meant.) He would have felt honored if this was a fight over who got to hang out with him or something like that. But it wasn't. Stupid house should feel lucky. Everyone loved it.

"It's okay, guys," he cut in, holding his hands out in a calming manner, "you all can come. After school today. My dad will be thrilled."

"What about your mom?" Snotlout questioned. "Won't she be upset if we all just come barging in."

"I - she's not my mom. Step mom. She lets me do whatever I want, really."

All of them seemed to have questions, but Hiccup mumbled a quick excuse for the bathroom and fled, hoping none of them would remember that he didn't know where the bathroom was. Inside the building, he rammed straight into someone. It was Heather, and she fumbled as she picked up her fallen bag.

"Sorry," he offered.

"Forget it." She brushed her hair out of her face. "Hey, if you want someone to show you around town, tell me. I could help."

He gave her a genuine smile. "Thanks." None of the other teens he had met had offered that. As she walked past, he thought maybe Heather wasn't that bad.

But now was not the time to dwell on her. Now was the time to mentally prepare himself for questioning from the kids, his father, and his own self, the last one asking what on earth he was thinking inviting a bunch of wild kids to his house.

And why they wanted to come so badly.


	3. Chapter 3

Astrid had stuck up for him because she wanted to go to the manor. That realization hit him near the end of the school day. Well, he would take the whole lot of them to the house and they could gawk and whatnot, and he would do homework.

Or he could explore with them.

This was a very tight position. Hiccup did not know what the big whoop was about the house he was living in, but these kids were definitely interested, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't too. There were a lot of questions. Why couldn't he go into the rooms? Why was the house off limits to everyone before? Why were people so worked up about his family moving there? And if Viggo Grimborn was the mayor of the town, then why couldn't he just keep them from living there? The boy knew that there had been a small debacle in which his dad had argued their rights to the house, and for a few days it seemed they would not be moving after all, but then out of the blue, the mayor had agreed. But him and his brother definitely didn't want his family there. And he was determined to find out why.

"Kara, I have a few friends coming in. Is that okay?"

His dad's wife was lounging on the couch with her feet up, and Hiccup felt a small pang of pity for her, knowing she had been working all day, unpacking. Still, she got up, and there was an excited spark in her eye.

"Friends? Well, look at the new social butterfly. Friends already?" She wrung her hands. "Oh, but there isn't enough lunch."

"It's okay," he reassured, waving his hand, "they're going to have lunch first. Relax. I just wanted to let you know."

She sat back down, but she was still sizzling excitedly. Her short blonde hair shook in curly clumps around her neck. "So, will you all be doing homework? Just talking?"

"Looking around the house."

Her face formed a frown. "Good luck with _that._ I wish I could too, but with all those Do Not Enter signs…" She sighed. "It's a bit ridiculous, really. It's our house, we should be able to go wherever we want to in it. I mean, I know that it's an artifact, and that -"

"I agree."

Kara looked up gratefully, and he offered her a small smile, the two of them bonding over this shared opinion. They had discussed a few things before, and he found that he agreed with her on more things than he did with his dad, actually. She wasn't his mom, but she could be a good friend.

The doorbell rang, and he skid across the room. The manor was an endless paradise, with floors that were perfect for sock skating. At the stairs, he looked at the long railing and grinned, before sliding down it with a small whoop. At the door, he self consciously pushed his hair back, only to feel it spring up again. Just great.

Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut all were standing there, each wearing a sweater. It was October, it was not too cold yet, but he felt it was colder than how October usually was. He invited them in.

Fishlegs squealed the minute he stepped inside, running in and glossing his hand over the stairs. Snotlout stood with his hands in his pockets and looked around, nodding appreciatively and whistling. The twins were muttering to each other about something, and then Ruffnut smirked and pointed to a vase, seeming to suggest something that Tuffnut wholeheartedly agreed with. He would be sure to keep them away from that vase. And Astrid was quietly observing everything. She pushed her bangs from her face and stared at the Berkian crest that was painted grandly above the stairs. If you looked closely, you could see blood dripping from the sword.

Hiccup clapped his hands together. "So...where do you guys want to...uh, you know, begin?"

"I'm thinking that door would be a good place to start," Astrid dryly remarked, pointing to one of the doors with a sign.

He sighed. "We can't go in there."

"Says who?" Snotlout asked, obviously annoyed. "Your dad?"

"Well. yeah, but the mayor said it first."

Everyone's face darkened remarkably, and Ruffnut spat out the name as though it was venom. "Viggo."

Hiccup turned to her, surprised. "You guys just call him Viggo?"

"Yeah, mostly." Tuffnut shrugged. "And we call Ryker...drum roll, please...Ryker." He glared at nothing in particular. "They're rotten."

"Ryker?"

"Our history teacher," Fishlegs informed him helpfully, "unless we're in class, we call him Ryker."

"But why?" He didn't really see a problem in calling them both Mr. Grimborn.

"Because we don't show respect to people who don't deserve it." Astrid crossed her arms. "The adults in this town may be wrapped around Viggo's little finger, but the younger people are more likely to show them _their_ finger. And I don't mean the index one."

Hiccup nodded, and then winced. "So, I guess that means you're all leaving? Since there isn't much to see with these doors, and -"

"Are you _kidding_?" Fishlegs cut in, excitedly jumping in, "there's still a whole lot that we can see. I'm not leaving yet!" He ran up the stairs and the others followed, leaving the Haddock standing there. He was a bit surprised at first, but caught up with them very quickly only to see them staring awkwardly at Kara.

She smiled and clapped her hands. "Are these your friends, Hiccup?"

He could feel their stares as he felt a blush across his cheeks. Why did she have to say that? Now, they all probably thought he told lies about them.

"I've never met any of Hiccup's friends before!"

Now he was openly staring at her in horror. The two things she should never have even thought about saying, the very worst things that she possibly _could_ say, and she went ahead and said them. His fists clenched as his face became redder.

Snotlout snorted, and that did nothing to lessen the boy's anger. He managed to say, "You guys can split up and look around, if you want."

And they did. All of the teens went in different directions, and as soon as they were gone, Hiccup turned furiously onto his stepmother.

"Did you _have_ to say that?" he hissed, honestly trying to keep his anger in check.

Her face turned to one of surprise. "I - I was just...surprised, I mean, I haven't met any of your friends before, you barely bring them home…"

" _That's_ because -" He stepped closer to her. "I - didn't - have any! And when I finally have a chance to make some, you go and reveal that I'm a loser!"

She reached for his cheek. "Hiccup, I am so, so, sorry."

He stepped back, flinching. "I don't care." The bomb was rising, and it exploded right out of him. "You're not my real mom, and you never will be."

And right away he regretted it.

Tears sprung in Kara's eyes, and though they didn't fall, they were _there_ , plain as day. She stepped back just like he had, whispering, "If that's what you feel...that's alright, Hiccup." She turned and left the room, leaving him standing there, confused, upset, and only half apologetic.

* * *

"You've got some gumption."

Astrid was standing in his room. He stared wide eyed at her. "What - uh…"

"Yeah, I could hear you." She gestured her head to the door. "Pretty rough."

Hiccup did not have a response for this, mainly because he did not particularly feel like talking to or about Kara at that moment. So instead, he asked, "What are you doing in my room?"

She looked around and then blushed, and he realized that _of course_ she didn't know this was his room, because it was just a bed, a desk, and a few boxes. He had not fully unpacked yet, and his clothes were in the closet where she could not see them.

"Sorry." She hugged herself tightly, even though it was not cold in there. "I didn't know."

"Understandable." He went over and sat on his bed, immediately wishing he hadn't, because it seemed rude not to ask her to sit down as well, but it would be awkward to ask her to sit on his bed. He glanced over at his chair desk; it had two missing legs because of all the time he spent rolling around on it.

"So, what's the big deal with my house?" he asked, attempting at a conversation.

She looked at him oddly. "It's weird to see someone not obsessed with this place. And it's weirder that you live here. Refreshing, though." She sighed. "The thing is, we _don't know_ what the big deal is. It's always been against the rules to go here, and, well, now we have a chance to see what they wanted to hide so badly."

That was fair. There was a snag, though. "If they're letting us in, then whatever they were hiding must have been removed."

She gave him a small smile. "Unless there were, say, secret doors?"

Oh.

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah." Astrid shrugged. "I'd kill to know what was behind those walls. I don't think it's gonna happen, though." She checked her watch. "I should be going then. Um, bye, Hiccup."

He stood up by the door and offered to walk her out. While she declined that, she did give him a friendly smile and gave his shoulder a light punch.

"You're not so bad, Haddock."

In the movies, it was the girl who flopped onto her bed, sighing dreamily and a bit pathetically after a barely romantic encounter. But in this tale, it was the boy.

* * *

" _I'd kill to know what was behind those walls."_

If his dad or Kara caught him, then Hiccup would be toast. Sneaking around at night wasn't so bad, he wasn't leaving the house or anything. But he _was_ going to enter a room that specifically had 'Do Not Enter" on it's door. He grasped the doorknob firmly, and then sighed.

Was he really going to do this? What if his dream came true somehow? What if certain death was behind this door?

He was a Berkian now. Their motto was literally, "It's an occupational hazard."

Hiccup turned the doorknob, and opened the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

There was nothing in the room.

Hiccup stepped in cautiously, looking around. It was smaller than his room, not much larger than the bathroom (which was a bit bigger than average, to be honest). What a disappointment.

But this couldn't be it. In no way would the mayor be hiding an empty room.

And then a thought struck him.

What if only one of these rooms actually had something worth hiding? The other rooms were all a bunch of red herrings, and then one of them had a deadly chemical that would kill everyone. This seemed a pretty good theory, but he couldn't be sure at all, in any way, unless he checked every door. That might not be possible tonight. Or any night. He wasn't even sure how many doors there were. But at least he had a theory. He could go now, there wasn't anything to see.

And yet…

The wall looked agonizingly bare. The boy furrowed his brows and stepped closer, examining it closely. It was just a wall, nothing to get excited over. There was some red dust on the otherwise green wall so Hiccup reached out and gave it a nice, hard, push. Hard for him, anyway. His father could probably break the wall.

Only, all of a sudden, it became abundantly clear that he had broken the wall too. Or rather, he had _opened_ it.

A secret passageway.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. Not only was this getting a little cliche for his liking, but it was really dark in there, and it was possible bugs lived in there too. He gave his phone a shake and felt it vibrate before the flashlight turned on. No bugs in sight.

Hiccup stepped forward, immediately taking a loose thread from his shirt and leaving it there. More and more came out as he walked into different rooms that all looked the same. Soon, very soon, a quarter of his sleeve was out, but it didn't really matter to the boy; he had so many shirts it didn't matter if he wasted one on exploring.

Was there _anything_ in these doors?

Every single one was the same. Every. Single. One. Hiccup walked through frantically now, desperate to find something, _anything_ to tell Astrid. Surely, Viggo was hiding something. And then he heard it.

A growl so soft he almost missed it.

Hiccup's hand froze on the doorknob it was on, and instead he walked to the door where the sound had come from. Before opening it, he questioned his sanity, but went ahead and gave it a firm push.

It was quite hard to see in the dark, and he pointed the light to where the soft growling was coming from.

And then nearly dropped his phone.

In front of him, sat a beast. A huge animal in ropes that bound it, and Hiccup saw that whatever it was, it was missing half it's tail. There was a knife discarded next to it.

 _Viggo,_ Hiccup thought. He must have roped the animal and attempted to kill it. Well, he could certainly see why. It looked terrifying. In the dark, it blended in perfectly, and it was big enough to devour a human if it wished. He had no qualms about leaving it there, and made to leave with the thought of telling Astrid, and maybe the others too, about what he found. But then...he couldn't.

Not physically, of course. There was nothing actually stopping him But he took a look back at the creature, and he knew, he couldn't just in good conscience _leave_ it there. That was...that was inhumane.

So Hiccup took the knife and a rope in one hand, and cut it once. The creature did not stir. Hopefully, it would just sleep through everything and then go away. Maybe this was all a dream. The fact that there was a creature living in a secret room in his house was not really registering just yet. The final rope snapped open.

Hiccup then learned that the creature had not been asleep.

It pounced on him, pinning him to the ground, breathing down on his face. His phone did slip from his hand this time, and now he couldn't see anything but the animal's eyes. They were green with black pupils and they stared him down. In that moment, everything he had done to Kara, he was sorry for. He was sorry for everything. This creature was going to kill him.

It didn't.

The thing roared loudly in Hiccup's face; he felt the hatred and passion burning in it. It's grip on his neck tightened, and for a moment, he couldn't breathe.

But then it let go, and his neck was released, and he could breathe in air, and the weight on his body was gone. Whatever it was, it slinked away and escaped through an open door, running fast. Running away before he could get proof.

Hiccup trudged slowly back, following the thread and going back to his room. It was hard to think. He didn't want to comprehend what had just happened. In his mind, he kept seeing that eye, looking down on him hatefully. But it hadn't killed him.

Before he lay down, his head conjured up the word that he had not wanted to think of, but came anyway.

 _Dragon._

Hiccup hit the bed, and fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

How did you tell your classmates (one of whom you might possibly have a crush on) that there was a dragon in your house? Of course, the story would have to be changed, made so that he hadn't freaked out, and that he had scared the dragon away using pure...intimidation and...strength. Things like that.

But the little lies weren't the hard part. The hard part was to make them believe what _really_ sounded like a lie - there was a dragon in his house.

None of the teens would believe it. Astrid was too untrusting, Fishlegs was too logical, Snotlout was quick to dismiss things, and the twins didn't focus.

All this he had learned from one day of observing them.

Still he had to tell _someone_. This secret couldn't remain a secret, someone needed to know that a dragon - or something - was having it's sweet time lounging around. Or at least, he had to gather information on the matter. And the only one who he wasn't too afraid of ridicule from, but also friendly enough with was...

* * *

"Hey, Heather?" he said casually, twiddling a pencil between his fingers, "why are there dragon crests everywhere?"

Heather, who had been showing him the library, gave him an amused glance. "You need to brush up on your history, y'know."

He gave her a weak smile. "I did just start yesterday."

"True." She handed him a book. "I just forget that not everyone knows Berkian history; it's so wonderful." She took a deep breath. "Berk used to have dragons, the vikings rode them at one point, but only after a three hundred year war. The vikings are the people who used to live here," she added, a bit sheepishly.

She still sounded like a robot, just like she did in class. She was that one friend - the Hermione of the group, but replacing the fierceness with slightly cringeworthy sweetness - and she was more of a study group friend than a real friend.

She was still the smartest girl in History, though. (With the way Ryker was, she could be the _only_ girl in History.) So she was still the best suited to ask this question.

"Rode them? That's pretty cool…" He bit his lip, trying his best not to make it obvious. "So what happened to the dragons? Assuming they existed, you know."

Heather looked at him as though he was crazy. "What do you mean 'assuming'?" She crossed her arms. "Berk history is law, of course they existed. What happened to them is debated."

Debated by _who_? Berk wasn't big enough to have private debates about dragons. Berk wasn't big enough to do much at all.

"Some say that they just...died out. Others say the was was reignited and the vikings won. And some people say that the dragons are still here."

Bingo.

"Still here? How...how could that be possible?"

"In hiding, blind to the naked eye," she whispered, and then grinned, checking her watch. "I gotta go, my brother's waiting outside, but this book -" She gestured to the book she had gave him. "This book is The Book of Dragons. It was written by Bork the Bold and Professor Yobbish. It shows how to train a dragon, and the different species there were. It's a good read." She flashed him one last smile and went out, doing a rather impressive hair flip as she did.

* * *

If the town was weird before, it was even more weird when Hiccup learned it had a forge. A _forge._ An actual weapon making forge. With actual weapons. And Snotlout worked there.

"Hey, Gobber! Come check this out!" the black haired boy cried, right before a catapult sent him flying into the wall. Into the room entered a man around his father's age, who scowled.

"Snotlout, I don' pay ya to get yerself knocked out every day! Useless lad," he muttered, then turned to see Hiccup, who had watched Snotlout's entire ordeal with a grimace. "What are ya starin' at?"

"Nothing," he said, staring at this impressively large man (still not as big as his dad). "I was just looking for a job, and my dad said to go into town and I, uh, saw the Help Wanted sign." He shrugged. "But if that's the job that Snotlout is doing, I'd rather not -"

"Ya speak too fast," the man grumbled, "Introduce yerself first, Hiccup. It's polite."

Hiccup stared in astonishment.

The man gestured to Snotlout. "He told me about ya. My name's Gobber. Can you clean?"

"Uh...yeah?"

"Good." He was handed a mop. "Clean."

"But I just -"

"Clean."

"What about the sal-"

"Clean. We'll talk about it I see how ya do."

* * *

Fortunately, he _did_ get the job, and it was at a pretty good salary, but he felt crestfallen that his job was _cleaning._ It was a forge, he should be allowed to do more! And he said all this to Snotlout when they were both dismissed.

Snotlout told him not to worry, that Gobber didn't like anyone in particular, and that he would probably get upgraded soon. This was an unacceptable answer, but before he could say so, the most hideously creepy old woman he had ever seen ran right up to him on all fours and snatched his arm into a vice grip.

"Excellinor!" Snotlout shouted. "Knock it off!"

She didn't seem to hear him; she spoke straight to Hiccup.

"It's _you!_ It's you, oh they told me it was you, do you remember me?" She grinned maniacally, showing her crooked and yellow teeth. "Do you remember the battles we had? Do you remember my son? Do you remember -"

Hiccup finally got his arm free, and both him and Snotlout staggered back. "I don't know you! Leave me alone!" Without waiting for a response, they both ran, and only when they were sure she wasn't following that they stopped.

"Crazy old bat," the black haired boy seethed, "avoid her."

There were two many people he had to avoid, and it was getting annoying. Viggo, Ryker, and now this Excellinor lady?

"Hope the dragons eat her," Snotlout added, looking over his shoulder.

Dragons!

Trying not to sound too eager, he asked, "Would a dragon eat her? Do dragons always eat people?"

"Nah, usually, they just kill you." He grinned. "Look at you, all up in Berk's history! Nerd." He put a hand on his shoulder. "Y'know, Gobber always shakes his head when the topic of trained dragons comes up. Says it's not possible. He says that a dragon would always go for the kill."

He walked on, but Hiccup froze in his tracks. Snotlout looked back.

"Hiccup?"

"Always?" he asked softly. "A dragon would never spare you?"

"Nope. Not according to Gobber. What's wrong? Excellinor really spook you out?"

"No," and that was a half lie, "no, I'm just hungry," and that was a full lie, "I'll see you later." That hopefully, was the truth.

 **Okay, either my review thing isn't working, or my updates lately have been crappy...**

 **Tell me what you think, please!**


	6. Chapter 6

This time, Hiccup was smart enough to bring some string along with him. If his dad saw him now, he would be punished for as long as dragons had existed. Especially because of Kara. She hadn't told Stoick what had happened, but Hiccup suspected his dad knew anyway, even if he wasn't the most observant.

The ball of yarn became smaller as he travelled further into the rooms. The dragon wasn't around the area Hiccup had seen him in, so he kept on going in. He had no intention to actually meet the beast, just study it.

It didn't make _sense._ Snotlout said Gobber said a dragon always went for the kill, but the black dragon had spared him and ran off. Not only that, but it had just...run off. Not even an injury inflicted upon Hiccup. Not that he wanted one, but hey, a small scar wouldn't have been too much, right? It would look cool. Something to show Astrid (who had gotten hurt on purpose while playing volleyball because it was more fun to "get a scar out of it"). His feelings for her were not something he wanted to think about, though, no matter how much it would pop back into his mind.

Too many things were on his mind.

For one thing, he was furious at Viggo. What was a dragon doing in his house, and why was it being kept in a locked room? And were all the rooms connected? How many other secrets did he have around? None of it was adding up.

Then there was Kara. He felt horrible guilt just thinking about her. Looking at her whenever he was at home was torture. She had this thing - without even trying, she could make you feel bad about yourself.

Heather was the next worrying thing. He appreciated her help, but Fishlegs had said that her brother helped Viggo and Ryker. Was she hiding something from him too? If so, she certainly didn't act like it. Heather had been really nice to him so far. Maybe she was just born with the good family genes.

And one of the things that now kept him up at night was Excellinor. After a few days of working at the forge, he grew accustomed to seeing her. She never approached him anymore, but every time he passed by, her head would shoot up with bloodshot eyes, and she'd give him the creepiest glare ever.

This was Berk. A place where nothing made sense, people hated him for no reason, and everyone seemed to be hiding something. Even Astrid, although he had talked to her over the last few days too, even she wasn't completely open about herself, but on her he thought it exciting. Hiccup wasn't unaware of how biased that was, but he was happy ignoring it. He had had crushes before, but none had made his stomach flip so violently as she did when she talked to him or accidently touched his hand when they traded notes. Astrid Hofferson was one thing that made this town worth living in.

Her and the fact that there was a dragon in his house.

A small snort tore him from his thoughts.

Hiccup froze. The snort had come from _above_ him, and regretting his entire life, he looked up. There, in the rafters, the dragon was watching him. It was the same one, he was sure of it. It had the same green eyes.

Hiccup backed up, not having thought this far. It wasn't moving, just watching him, and when his back hit the wall he decided it was safe. Taking out a notebook and pencil, he sketched the thing quickly.

Of course, even with all the worries he already had, his brain just couldn't be satisfied. There was also a burning curiosity - why hadn't the dragon killed him when it had the chance? He wasn't complaining, but it was weird. Unless Gobber had been wrong and they really were all friendly and kind and let you ride on them. But then why had Viggo hurt it?

He slammed the pencil in the notebook with a frustrated sigh. Nothing, _nothing_ , made sense. And this wasn't something he could just look up.

The dragon snorted again, only this time it looked amused. It's eyes lit up as it looked at Hiccup.

 _Great. A mythical creature is laughing at me._

Hiccup sighed, and was just about to leave, when the dragon came down. It stared at him. Hiccup stared back, not making any steps to move closer. He wasn't going to risk it.

The dragon did nothing for two seconds, then slid through the door on his side, and he followed quickly, forgetting to use the string.

It was fast. He could barely see it in the dark anyway, did it really have to move so slickly? Hiccup panted as he tried to catch up. Finally, there were no more doors save for the one he had just entered in from. And the dragon was gone.

Hiccup squinted to see if the dragon _was_ there, just not visible, but to no avail. It had disappeared entirely. The only thing in the room was a window, but it certainly wasn't big enough for a dragon to fit through. He walked to the window and looked outside, finding nothing peculiar. It was just another window looking outside. A grassy field. Probably part of that massive backyard.

But then he looked up.

Hundreds - no, thousands - of winged creatures were there. There were big ones and small ones, spiked ones and metallic ones, all different colors. He could even recognize and name a few from the book that Heather had gave him, the Book of Dragons.

Hiccup staggered back, his mind racing. How was this possible? Surely, not everyone was simply sleeping and missing this. Surely someone knew that thousands of dragons flew overhead everyday. Surely, _surely_ , this was not what Viggo was trying to hide!?

And then he followed the moonlight, the small stream coming in from the window, to the opposite wall. What he saw made him sick to his stomach.

There, written in red ink, were the words _Drago Bludvist._ A name, perhaps, of a person or a formula. And whether it was really red ink or blood, he didn't wanna know. Because there was another name there. And that was the one that was sickening.

It said Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third.

A coo came from the door, where the black creature was now standing. It looked into Hiccup's eyes, and he wished desperately that it could answer his questions, but alas, it was completely quiet.

Up above, the dragons continued to fly.

 **Guys, I should be given some kind of cheese award. Honestly. And did my recent update of IKYWT suck? Because I got two reviews only (even though they were very lovely). Or is there something wrong with my account?**


	7. Chapter 7

"You know," Heather said casually, as the teens sat in the library, "there's a limit to how many books you can read."

Hiccup looked up at her, making to close the book. She giggled.

"I mean, if you want to read, don't let me stop you." She waved her hand. "At least you're not binge drinking coffee."

He wanted to question Heather, he really did. But what if she got upset? People got upset when you accused their brother and possibly them of working with a man who hurt dragons that weren't supposed to exist, right? It sounded mad when he thought about it like that anyway. So Hiccup kept his mouth shut.

"What are you even looking for?" She scooted closer to him, taking the book he was holding. Hiccup held onto it a bit stubbornly, but she grasped it and flipped through it.

He looked down, biting his lip. "I was trying to find - don't laugh - I was trying to find my name."

"Your name?"

Heather looked at him curiously, so he explained. "I'm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, right? So there must have been a Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the first and second. My - my dad said that our family originates from here anyway."

That was true. Stoick had told him that this was where the Haddock family was from. The house they lived in now was rightfully theirs, because his grandfather had owned it - they had just never bothered to claim it. His mom, Valka, had agreed to go the Haddock property when his parents divorced, and then she had died.

Heather was looking at him as though he had said something extremely ludicrous. "You're kidding, right?"

"No. I mean, I know how weird it would be, but -"

"You really need to educate yourself!" Heather exclaimed. She jumped up, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into an aisle. "Of course there was a first and second! They're famous! Thor, Hiccup…" She shook her head. "Don't you know why everyone's so obsessed with you?"

"Er…" He scratched his head sheepishly. "Because of my house?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Well, that's a part of it, but also because both Hiccup Horrendous Haddocks were famous. The first one - why, he stopped a war!" She handed him a book excitedly. "And the second one, he tried to free the dragons, because humans had gone from being their friends…" Her voice dropped. "To the ones who enslaved them."

Hiccup furrowed his brows. "We turned them into slaves?"

"Uh huh." She crossed her arms. "And then - oh, this is my favorite part - Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Second was leading a peaceful rebellion, and his own father, the chief of the tribe, killed him!"

Deciding not to question why that was her favorite part, Hiccup scowled. "What did he do that for?"

"The other son, Thugheart, was jealous of his brother, so he lied that he was trying to kill his father." She sighed, her eyes ghosting over of times lost long ago. "As Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Second was dying, he told the dragons to go into hiding, because he didn't think that humans could ever live with them in peace." She started walking back to the table. "It's all in the book, of course, in greater detail than I could ever explain."

But Hiccup didn't think he was going to read the book. Stories with such a dark ending were not ones that he enjoyed (Shakespeare was a particularly nasty author).

Heather paused, and she looked back at him. "Some people say the last part is a myth," she said softly, "that the dragons never went into hiding, they just died out." She cocked her head. "Are you..."

Hiccup raised an eye. "Am I what?"

"Nothing."

Heather turned around, and left the library. He stared after her, unsure of exactly how much she knew, or how much he knew, for that matter.

* * *

Gobber was a nice enough guy to let Hiccup and Snotlout off an early hour when Snotlout asked, so they made their way around town. Excellinor was still in her spot, and as Hiccup passed, she widened her bloodshot eyes to stare at him.

Hiccup shivered, looking away. Snotlout didn't turn his gaze, he just glared at Excellinor with hate written plainly on his face.

"So, where are we going?"

"To hang with the others. How do I look?" Snotlout spread his arms. He was covered in dirt, and there was a minor scar on the side of his forehead.

"Great." Hiccup grinned.

Astrid was clearly not interested in Snotlout, but she didn't seem to be interested in anyone, so she might just be interested in someone but they wouldn't know. Hiccup bit his lip. What was the chance that she was interested in him? If he didn't live in his house, would she even give him a spare glance?

They went inside a coffee and ice cream shop named A Bucket Of Love, where the others already were. Astrid was leaning against the wall, and Fishlegs looked like he was stopping Tuffnut from going to the vending machine. Ruffnut was sitting at a table, with her feet up and a bored expression on her face.

"There you are," she drawled when she saw them, "we were gonna order without you."

Snotlout flashed her a smile. "C'mon, babe. You know you wouldn't."

Ruff gave him a disgusted look and then stalked off to the counter to talk to the owner, Bucket, just to show Snotlout that she would. Tuffnut followed her, and Fishlegs sighed in relief, sinking into a chair.

Deciding not to ask, Hiccup scooted next to Astrid, who was watching everything with an expression of mild interest. Up at the counter, Snotlout was trying to order for Ruffnut.

"Poor her, huh?" he asked, at an attempt to make small talk.

Astrid glanced at him, half amused. "Better her than me." She cocked her head. "Where have you been? We only see you at school."

"Yeah, sorry." Hiccup scratched the back of his head. He had decided that he would tell her - or at least try to tell her - about the dragons. "I've got work, and then, I've just uh...well, actually, I've been -"

"Hanging out with Heather in the library?" She narrowed her eyes.

"W-what?" Hiccup's eyes widened - he knew Astrid wasn't a fan of Heather.

"Hey, if you wanna date her, go ahead." Astrid shrugged, but she was looking at him doubtfully. "I don't trust her. Maybe you do. Good for you."

"We are _not_ dating," Hiccup said with as much vigor as he could.

"Then why are you so buddy-buddy with her in the library?"

"Because she's smart," Hiccup said honestly. Heather was nice and all, but he did find himself bored when he hung out with her, because Berk and dragons was all she talked about. And he did appreciate it, because he needed that information, but to date her was something he couldn't imagine it.

"She's smart," he said again, "and I need to catch up."

"Fine," Astrid spat, walking away. He wanted to protest, call out to her, but he only stared at her in confusion as she took a seat next to Fishlegs, scowling. The chubby boy squeaked, getting up when he saw her angry, blazing expression.

Why did it bother her so much that Hiccup hung out with Heather? Heather was a nice girl, and while he really wouldn't wanna date her, there was no reason to hate her for no reason.

Astrid was mean. That was the only explanation for why she hated someone she didn't know with a burning passion. She was mean, and judgemental.

But Hiccup found out, as he was walking back to his house, that when he closed his eyes, Astrid's face was still the one that swam into his mind, not Heather's.


	8. Chapter 8

Hiccup had been putting off the days until he had to go into the secret doors again. Until he had to see the dragon again.

With everything going on, he hadn't given much thought to the actual dragon.

It was really fast. It was jet black. It had green eyes and black pupils that could look life threatening but also...cute. Tonight he would see it again.

This time, though, he was going with with the knife that Viggo - if he had been right and it really was Viggo who had roped the dragon - had left, and a piece of fish. It smelled, and it made him want to barf, but it was the only thing he could snag in town. FIshing was a big thing in Berk, and there were baskets upon baskets outside Gobber's forge. It was thanks to the forge that he had managed to sharpen the knife too, after quietly observing how Gobber did it. It was actually something that really looked fun. Blacksmithing.

Hiccup the Blacksmith. It didn't sound half bad.

He shook these thoughts out of his head as he went through door after door. With him he had yarn that he had bought, because getting lost was still not on his agenda.

As he walked, he tried thinking about what kind of dragon the one in his house was. The Book of Dragons showed nothing that looked light it, and it had hundreds of them, from different authors, based on the frequent handwriting changes.

But there was nothing that looked like the black dragon. There were a few pages that had been ripped off, so he supposed that was where the information was.

The dragon, as it always seemed to do, found Hiccup before he could find it.

In a dark room with only a knife in his pocket, it felt dangerous. But somehow he knew the dragon wouldn't hurt him. It inched closer, and Hiccup offered the fish. The dragon looked at it, snarled, and backed away.

Maybe it didn't recognize him? Maybe they had short memory spans. But it would remember the knife, wouldn't it? The knife that nearly took it's life?

Hiccup lifted up the uniform shirt he was still clad in, revealing the knife. The dragon snarled, and it backed away even more. That was not what he wanted, so he took the knife out, and before the dragon could react, threw it to the side, where it hit the wall and fell with a clang.

All of a sudden, the dragon stopped, straightening itself and looking at him curiously.

Hiccup took a deep breath - it was bound to be a long night.

* * *

"Haddock!"

Hiccup snapped out of his thoughts as a fist slammed his locker shut. He nearly jumped ten feet in the air, and hadn't even recovered when he was shoved against the locker and felt it connect with his head. Suddenly, the room was spinning.

Memories of last night were still fresh in his head - he had touched the dragon. It had only been for a moment, but that moment had felt incredible. Even more incredible than it should have felt.

The dragon was toothless, in a way. It had retractable teeth and when it tried to smile, he was glad that he had not squealed because it would not fit his manly persona at all.

Not that he was feeling any manly now, because above him was a rather vicious looking boy. He was glaring down, and Hiccup had the sense to whimper. He didn't even know the boy's name.

"What are you playing at? Inviting some geeks and freaks to your house?" The boy snarled, and didn't even offer time for Hiccup to respond before he was punched in the stomach and fell. "You better invite me and my friends" - was it bad that the first thing on his mind was the boy's grammar? - "over to your stupid house or else I'll -"

"You'll what?" a voice hissed from behind the bulking boy. The bully turned around, and Hiccup lifted his head weakly to see Astrid Hofferson, with one hand on her hip and one eye raised.

"Don't let me interrupt you," she said mockingly, dropping her bag to the floor, "you were just calling me a freak, or a geek, and threatening the new kid. Definitely could get you in trouble, don't you think?"

"Clear out, baby. I'm dealing with him now, but when I go to the manor I can take you and we can have some fun in one of the corridors," the boy said - more as a sultry suggestion than an order, and Hiccup realized Snotlout wasn't the only one who flirted with Astrid. Of course he wasn't. Not everyone lacked confidence like he himself did - and this place was so traditional that they would just love to be inappropriate towards Astrid Hofferson.

Astrid Hofferson wore the same look on her face that she always did when Snotlout tried - an unaffected one, bordering on disgust. She stepped forward, pulled her fist back, and without a second of hesitation punched the boy in the face.

His crush on her just multiplied itself by ten thousand, to the millionth power. And he was supposed to be mad at her.

The brute roared with anger, leaping at her as well, and then they were both fighting. It was after school - there weren't even any teachers to stop them. At one point, the boy had Astrid pinned with a dirty smirk on his face, but she kneed him when the sun didn't shine, and it wasn't long before she had him face down on the floor, with his hands pinned behind his back.

Even more brutal than the fight were the insults she called him. "Son of a half troll, rat eating, munge bucket! Coward dung face! Crap eating, goblin breath, ugly faced, brothel wench!"

The girl's lip was split, and her eye was going to be black tomorrow, but she had won the fight.

"Get lost," she hissed quietly, yanking him up and shoving. He didn't hesitate.

Hiccup shakily stood up, suddenly feeling very pathetic. Why did he need anyone to save him, let alone his crush who wasn't supposed to be his crush because she was way out his league and was pretty judgmental?

Relatable, Hiccup thought wryly.

Astrid swallowed, and then coughed into her fist awkwardly. "So, uh, are you okay?"

"Just had the wind knocked out of me," he said honestly, seeing her cheeks redden while feeling his own get hot, "you - you should probably get that checked out."

Astrid looked mildly disappointed. Her jaw set, and she sighed, nodding. "Yeah. It's only fun if you get a scar out of it though. Whatever. It's stupid." She turned around, her braid swinging behind her, along with many stray pieces of hair that had come out during the fight. "Bye, Hiccup."

"Wait!"

She was looking at him expectantly. Hiccup bit his lip - would she believe him? Would she laugh? Would they never talk again?

The Book of Dragons had come out of his bag when he was pushed down. Hiccup picked it up, looked her in the eye, and took a deep breath.

"There's something I have to tell you."

 **No, I haven't forgotten this story! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

"You have a dragon in your home," Astrid summarized, looking a little dazed.

"Yeah," he breathed, hoping she wouldn't be horrified.

"And it showed you your name next to Drago Bludvist."

"Uh huh."

"The chaos god who controlled the dragons."

"Exactly - wait, what?"

"Drago Bludvist," she said again, "he went to battle with Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the First, he wanted to control all the dragons, and use them to control humans."

Hiccup opened his mouth and closed it again. "So...where is he now?"

Astrid furrowed her brows. "Well, he was a god. He's certainly not dead. He swore vengeance on Hiccup Horrendous Haddock before he vanished into the skies."

"But - but that Hiccup is dead," he responded, a bad feeling settling into his stomach. Dragons were real, who was to say that chaos gods weren't? "How would he get revenge on him?"

Astrid gave him a hard stare. "His namesake would be good enough."

* * *

Hiccup was left alone after he had convinced Snotlout (without much effort) to try out a prototype machete. Gobber had rushed him to the healer quickly and Hiccup was now alone with the tools he needed.

Astrid hadn't said much, not really. She didn't seem to be scared, but she had definitely felt a hint of some bad thing to come.

Unlike Hiccup. He was scared. Not really of the dragons, but this Drago character. Today, Excellinor had shrieked his name when he was walking to the forge, nearly giving him a heart attack. In fact, even though being alone meant he could work, he didn't particularly fancy it.

Astrid couldn't answer him about the dragons at night. She said that the city didn't sleep at night, that she had been out during the dark plenty of times. Then how did she not see the dragons? How did anyone miss them?

That was all on his mind for now as he pounded away, sweat building on his forehead. He had watched Gobber closely enough to know what he was doing.

The thought of invisible dragons were better than the thoughts of a chaos god murdering him in his sleep.

Could it be possible that Berk had just simply gone loony after being isolated from the rest of the world for so long? Was the madness getting to him too?

Stoick hadn't seemed to notice anything. But Kara seemed to be a little uneasy, looking fidgety at dinner and had went to bed early. She and Hiccup still weren't talking.

Damn it all. Whose bright idea was it to name him Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, anyway? Maybe if he legally changed his name, this Drago Bludvist character would stay in his god realm and never come near him.

No, that wouldn't work. Somehow, Hiccup doubted that Drago Bludvist would care about the legalities of the normal world.

* * *

Toothless wouldn't come out.

There were hundreds - thousand - of dragons flying outside, and yet, the dragon wouldn't come in. He was right outside the window he had been last time, and the eerie marking of his name was in the same room.

"I can't go out there!" he protested, pretty sure the dragon could understand. "They'll kill me!"

But Toothless stayed firmly rooted where he was.

"Fine, you obstinate dragon." The Night Fury huffed as Hiccup climbed out of the window, falling onto the grass with a thump and wincing. He held up the tail.

"I got a whole basket for you, bud - don't ask me how." Hiccup pulled the heavy fish basket out next, muttering to himself. "Of course, that would be if you could actually ask me stuff, which you can't."

After learning that the dragon might burn him if he got eel again, Hiccup quietly sat near the tail, holding his invention. Toothless didn't notice, and neither did any of the other dragons, because they didn't swoop down and rip his skin apart.

He sat on the tail to get a better grip.

The tail fit snugly, and Hiccup felt the dragon move under him. He ignored it too, which, in the ten seconds where he was admiring his work, turned out to be a mistake.

Toothless had spread his wings, and suddenly Hiccup felt himself with his feet very firmly not on the ground.

"Oh gods! - Toothless - fu-" A string of curse words escaped him as he gripped the dragon's tail tightly. The tail ruffled, and in a moment of pure instinct, he opened it right when Toothless was going down. His hair ruffled and was pushed back by the wind, and, as he saw them leave the yard of the manor and cross over town for a second, it was so thrilling he whooped. "I did it!"

But then they were going down again.

There was a person there - blonde hair - it was Astrid! She was peering up at the sky, no doubt having snuck out to see if she could spot a dragon. He was going to crash into her.

Toothless hit the ground and Hiccup flew off, closing his eyes tightly as he prepared for impact.

Not only did he not feel that he had just crashed into a person, but it didn't even hurt.

"Astrid?" he mumbled groggily, getting up and opening his eyes. She was standing right in front of him, still peering up. He had just crash landed off a Night Fury in front of her, and she wasn't even looking at him? "Astrid!"

"How?" was all she mumbled, to herself.

"Astrid," he said again, loudly. He reached out to put his hand on her shoulder, and then gasped when his hand went through her, quite literally. Hiccup stared in horror.

He backed away, running to the market. Forgetting Toothless for a second, he ran towards a man who looked to be closing up his shop. He ran forward and gasped again when he passed through the man.

The dragons weren't invisible. They were in another world. That's why no one could see them.

And now no one could see him either.

Then, Hiccup heard cackling. He turned to see the old lady Excellinor, staring right at him, with crazy mirth in her eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

"Hiccup?" Kara said gently, stepping up to him. "You...don't look good."

He wanted to give his stepmom a dry look, but she was right - he hadn't slept a wink last night. There were dark bags under his eyes.

After the witch had appeared to see him, Hiccup had ran, Toothless right behind him, all the way back to the house. He had climbed in through the window.

The window. The window, in the secret passage, led to a whole other...world? Parallel universe? The land of dragons? It was hard to tell.

"Um...nightmare," he said quietly. Kara nodded hesitantly, looking like she was going to say more, but instead, walked away, sighing with a troubled look on her face.

Whatever she was worried about, Hiccup doubted that it was as big as being chased by a chaos god. And having a dragon.

Thor, he had flown yesterday. The tail needed adjustments for sure, but with a few, he could probably have Toothless flying soon. Maybe a few nights in the forge…

Hiccup sat down dizzily. Too much had happened yesterday.

A dragon was one thing, but an entire other world was an entirely different thing.

* * *

Heather seemed to be particularly quiet today in the library. She looked nervous, and kept looking behind her shoulder as she read a book.

"Are you okay?" Hiccup finally asked, gazing at her. "You seem jumpy."

She bit her lip, but nodded quickly. "I-I'm fine, but I have to - can't help you today, sorry. I actually have to go."

She left before he could say anything, so Hiccup put his things in his bag and was going to go find Fishlegs when the mayor appeared in front of him. Hiccup's heartbeat sped up considerably. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? (Or at least nothing noticeable.)

"Mr. Haddock," Viggo said quietly, "would you walk with me?"

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. The mayor shouldn't even have been in the school, and now he wanted to walk with him?

"It's quite urgent."

Quite urgent, sure. Hiccup told himself that the man wouldn't try harming him because his father owned the most important artifact in the town, but then again, the man had almost killed a dragon. He was clearly unafraid.

As they walked, Viggo took great measures to get them out of sight until they were outside of the school and walking towards an alley.

At first, the mayor only gave pleasantries, asking him how he was adjusting and how school was. Hiccup responded with vague answers, but for a second, he thought maybe it was just a formal visit and nothing more.

And in that second, Viggo had him pressed against the rough rock of the wall and was blocking his airway.

"Stay away, boy," he hissed, as Hiccup gasped for air, "stay away from the dragon, and stay away from the east wing."

With that, he dropped him and walked away as though nothing had happened, and Hiccup breathed heavily, hearing the bell ring. He was going to be late to his next class.

* * *

It took Astrid's help (after he explained to her exactly why she couldn't see the dragons), but eventually, the pair of them convinced Fishlegs that dragons existed. At first, Hiccup had been against it, but Astrid had insisted that if he really wanted to know where and what the east wing was.

It took even more convincing when they told Fishlegs that they might run into a Night Fury there. Both of them followed Hiccup inside the house and into the secret door he always used, now having a bit of an idea where he was going.

It was risky to go into the passageways during the day, especially after Viggo's threat, but Hiccup didn't want Astrid and Fishlegs to get caught sneaking out of bed at night. It was simply too much of a risk. And then they would all get in trouble.

"Where's the dragon?" Fishlegs whispered loudly.

"No idea," Hiccup whispered back, a little quieter, "he comes when he wants to. Which way is the east wing? Astrid said you're good with mazes."

Fishlegs furrowed his brows, turning his head and taking out a compass. "If you follow me, I can probably remember which way we came when we want to go back."

Astrid exchanged a slightly amused glance with Hiccup as Fishlegs didn't wait for them to respond, choosing to just walk. Every door they entered, they left open. And did so silently. Astrid's shoulders were tensed, and every once in a while Fishlegs would let out a whimper.

It gave Hiccup some time to think. He had never been in the East Wing, but Viggo clearly thought he had. What was he hiding in there?

And...an even worse thought came to him. If Viggo knew that Hiccup had set Toothless free, that meant he had come inside the house again. It wasn't a nice thought. What if they ran into him?

"Guys," he said quietly, "we should be -"

There were footsteps. Fishlegs squeaked and Astrid put on a defensive pose, gesturing for the boys to get behind her. Hiccup only hesitated for a second before complying.

Scratch that. It wasn't just one person, but a few people. Three or four, if he'd have to guess. They pressed against the wall.

Someone grabbed the door in front of them, and shoved it open.

"Hey, guys. I a-door this house."

The next thing he knew, Astrid was screaming. Not in fear, but in anger. She leapt forward and jumped on Tuffnut Thorston, who cried out (very much in fear) as she pummeled him.

"Did - did you guys follow us?" Hiccup asked a sheepish looking Snotlout. "Why would you do that?"

"Hey, it was their idea!" Snotlout pointed to a still shouting Tuffnut and a gleeful Ruffnut. "I'm the innocent one here!"

"Alright, alright, break it up." Hiccup sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Astrid gave Tuff one final punch in the stomach and stood up, clenching her fists. "You muttonheads!"

Hiccup gave her a pleading look, and she relented, stomping towards one of the doors without asking Fishlegs if it was the right one. Meanwhile, the boy with the compass gave Snotlout and the twins disapproving looks.

Ruffnut crossed her arms. "I'm not apologizing."

He was about to respond to her when Astrid let out a strangled sound, calling his name quietly. He stepped inside the room, and again, there was writing on the wall. There were no more doors save for the one they had entered from.

This time, the writing was in runes. He was about to sigh when Astrid read, in a slightly choked voice.

"When person and dragon are the same in body and mind, only then can Bludvist return to his kind. A great danger comes to the land of Berk, it will rise to the sun or drown in dirt."

Hiccup furrowed his brows. "I - so Drago is coming?"

"Yes," Astrid murmured, "and someone will stop him. You. You're here to save Berk."

He chuckled nervously, looking around at all the teens and waiting for one of them to contradict her. "You're kidding. I'm a high schooler. I'm...me."

"There is a flaw." She tilted her head. "You and your dragon aren't the same in body and mind. You said he had a missing tail fin. Unless you were to lose your leg or something...it can't be you."

It wasn't him whether he had his limbs or not. Hiccup was certain of it. But that meant one thing.

There was another person with a dragon out there, and the teens needed to reach them before it was too late.


	11. Chapter 11

Despite the possible looming threat descending onto Berk very soon, Hiccup found himself enjoying himself in the next few days.

One reason was because of the now very real friends. He hung out with the gang frequently, and he was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't simply because they wanted to hear more about the manor, but because they genuinely wanted to be friends with him. It was so cool.

Not that they didn't discuss the manor. Snotlout and Astrid especially loved using curse words to describe the mayor, while Fishlegs chastised them.

Hiccup was drawing Toothless in his notebook distractedly as the gang broke out into yet another argument. They were sitting in his room, simply flopped on the bed with Tuff trying dangerous poses on his chair. This time the squabble was about another one of his ancestors.

"Hamish the Second did look a lot like Hiccup!"

"Oh yeah?" Ruff challenged, standing up. "Then explain why Hamish the Second looks like a total beefcake in his portraits while this Hiccup is a fishbone!"

"Hey!"

A few inches next to him, Astrid snorted into her drink. Fishlegs took a deep breath before explaining his counter argument. He was the one trying so hard and he was still somehow losing the argument.

Astrid leaned over to see Hiccup's notebook and raised an eye, whistling appreciatively. "You're not bad. Ever been in a competition?"

"No." He kept his eyes focused on the drawing, because he was certain he'd blush if he actually looked at Astrid, but a smile grew on his face. She was still gazing at the drawing, interested as she scooted closer to him.

"What else have you drawn?"

Nope, the blush was coming whether he looked at her or not. "Uh...I've drawn some places I like. I've drawn -"

"Have you drawn Astrid?" Tuff, who had apparently been eavesdropping as he sat upside down on the chair, asked.

That got everyone else's attention very quickly, and as Ruffnut began to make kissy faces, Astrid scowled. "Oh, shut up. He hasn't drawn me."

He had, though. Minor sketches, mind you, but he still had.

"Cut it out," she snapped at Ruff, leaning back with her arms crossed. That was the end of conversation with Astrid for the day. Hiccup sighed. She became closed off and cold so quickly - he wished the the rest of the teens hadn't said anything, or they could still have been talking at the moment. And he liked talking to her.

* * *

"Do you need some help?" Hiccup asked quietly, watching his stepmom about to start mopping the kitchen floors.

Kara smiled at him, and her eyes twinkled before she leaned in as though telling a secret. "I bet I can clean the counters faster than you can mop the floor."

Hiccup grinned - and took the challenge. He was relieved she hadn't brought up anything that had happened before, even if he hadn't really expected her to. They started cleaning quickly, and he took the time to truly see that their work ethic was a lot alike too.

Kara was the most normal person in this whole town, wasn't she? His dad certainly wasn't.

Which the man proved when he trampled into the kitchen, setting down a huge bag of groceries and collapsing into the chair. Hiccup's eyes widened in horror at the mud tracks. Kara smiled amusedly.

Damn challenge. He had lost.

* * *

Hiccup was left alone in the forge again. Okay, he had sneaked in at night. But it was really hard to be in there alone at all - this was the only way. It wasn't as though he was breaking in, either, he worked here.

Sucking in a breath of air, he got started on two projects. A new tail fin, and a saddle. It would be close to impossible to ride Toothless's back if he didn't have a clutch.

Which meant he had to make a new outfit for riding. It could be similar to horse riding, he'd read up on that.

Bang after bang went the hammer. Despite the sweat and occasional bruise it caused, Hiccup quite liked the work.

He had wrapped the materials in cloth and was struggling to carry them back home, when out of nowhere, Excellinor was in front of his path, grinning madly.

Hiccup yelped, the saddle and fin nearly slipping from his hands. "What is your problem?"

"You killed my son…" she crooned sadly. "Of course, he tried to kill you first, but you just wouldn't cooperate."

"I haven't killed anyone," Hiccup said quietly, "please, just let me…"

He tried to sidestep her, but she blocked him and came even closer, close enough for him to smell her rank breath. "He lives in you! Oh, that horrible brat of a Hiccup lives in you! I thought - I thought it'd be your mother...but she…"

He stepped back and narrowed his eyes. "What about my mother?"

"Oh, it couldn't be her," the woman said, scowling, "it's always a Hiccup. But she reminded me of him, oh yes. Not as much as you do, of course," she cooed, grinning, "but enough that they didn't let her into the manor. The day she went in is the day she never came back."

Fear rose up inside Hiccup. Valka? Valka Haddock. His mother, had died in the manor? They had been told she'd had a heart attack, that she had just gave out…

Hiccup started to run towards the manor, his mind racing. Excellinor called out after him.

"You won't find her in your little home, Hiccup! You'll only see her blood!"

* * *

Toothless was most certainly becoming the best part of his days.

It was today that he dropped down shakily next to the dragon, no longer worried about any of the others in the sky. They never came down, never touched him.

"Mom moved when I was six after her and Dad got divorced," he mumbled to the dragon, scratching behind his ear, "and then all of a sudden she died last year. But if she was involved in all of this, it makes sense that she would…"

Hiccup hated Viggo Grimborn even more now. He was the reason for the death of his mother, he just knew it. And by association, Ryker.

He didn't realize Toothless was nudging his hand until it was a few seconds late. "Sorry, bud. I guess - that witch really spooked me out. Let's go flying."

He unwrapped the new tail fin first. That Toothless had no problem with, he happily put it on, eager to fly again. It was when the saddle came out that there was a power struggle. It ended up with him chasing the useless reptile all around the yard, being hit by his tail many times, and falling a lot before he finally got Toothless still enough to put on the saddle.

And with that they were flying again. It wasn't any less exhilarating - he was glad the spirit world was as windy as the real one.

It was a nice end to a tiring day. And it should have ended there.

But it didn't. Instead, Hiccup got off Toothless, and was about to go back when his arms were roughly grabbed, and he was yanked off the ground. Toothless letting out the loudest roar he had ever heard as boy and dragon were separated from each other.

It was the dragon on the floor, and the boy flying away.


End file.
